Ludwig van Bethoven (1770-1827)
Trio pour piano n° 3 en do mineur, op. 1 n° 3
Trio pour piano en si bémol majeur, op. 11 'Gassenhauer"
Variations pour trio de piano en mi bémol majeur, op. 44

TrioVanBeethoven

Clemens Zeilinger, piano
Verena Stourzh, violon
Franz Ortner, violoncelle

Volume 4 of the complete recordings of Beethoven's piano trios by the Austrian TrioVanBeethoven opens with the Trio Op. 1/3 in C minor. Preceding this last work of the group of piano trios Op. 1 (1793/94) were a great number of uncounted works and sketches like the Variations Op. 44, whose first drafts can be dated back to as early as the year 1792. The famous “Gassenhauer” Trio Op. 11 which was originally written for clarinet instead of the violin, got its sobriquet (the term “Gassenhauer” was initially used to describe the songs which night-time revellers, perhaps no longer entirely sober, sung while making their way home, often disturbing the slumbers of solid citizens) from the final movement of the work, comprising variations on a then very popular melody from the opera “L’amor marinaro ossia Il corsaro” by Joseph Weigl from 1797. The simplicity of this tune in contrast to the normally more serious and complex writing of Beethoven enthused his contemporary critics, and it was advocated he were to write more natural rather than strained pieces.